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3.42 AVERAGE
3.42 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
medium-paced
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I went on a back-to-back with two golden age of sci-fi legends [Heinlein & Asimov is as high up the ladder you can go for sci-fi from that era] but found this book a little to meandering and actionless after reading the Heinlein. Asimov is less actiony than Heinlein to begin with but reading them back to back really stresses that point home. Part of the enjoyment for me was kind of dampened by the person who did the reading for this audiobook...so, this score is reflective of the format. Had I just been reading it, might have gotten a higher score.
This is the second book I've read in the Galactic Empire series, the other being [b: The Currents of Space|85434|The Currents of Space (Galactic Empire, #2)|Isaac Asimov|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328110000s/85434.jpg|1279051]. Other than being set in the same universe, The Stars, Like Dust has no relation to The Currents of Space. It's an entirely new set of characters with new settings (although it's still in the same galaxy).
Personally, I wasn't as big of a fan of this chronologically first installment of the series. For being set some 10,000 years in the future, too much of the story did not seem believable. The types of planetary and interstellar governments portrayed are far too primitive. You would think that after 10,000 years humans would have outgrown forms of leadership as backwards as dictatorships. It's not until the ending that these issues I had are even attempted to be addressed in a slightly realistic manner... but only SLIGHTLY!
Aside from these unbelievable aspects of the story, however, it is a fairly enjoyable read. It's basically a mystery set in space. There's not much to like, but it is fun to make predictions and finally see all the pieces come together towards the end. It's a decent but not great sci-fi flick.
Personally, I wasn't as big of a fan of this chronologically first installment of the series. For being set some 10,000 years in the future, too much of the story did not seem believable. The types of planetary and interstellar governments portrayed are far too primitive. You would think that after 10,000 years humans would have outgrown forms of leadership as backwards as dictatorships. It's not until the ending that these issues I had are even attempted to be addressed in a slightly realistic manner... but only SLIGHTLY!
Aside from these unbelievable aspects of the story, however, it is a fairly enjoyable read. It's basically a mystery set in space. There's not much to like, but it is fun to make predictions and finally see all the pieces come together towards the end. It's a decent but not great sci-fi flick.
I think I've heard that Asimov considered this one of his weakest works. Oddly, I liked it more than either of his other Empire books.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
As the first in the empire series (i think), this gets more into the hard scifi which i don't know if i'm a fan of. i don't need to know how all the 3 coordinates can let you know where you need to jump to in hyperspace so a lot of that just washed over me. then the protagonist of the book seems to have this genius level intellect to connect all the dots of the story which makes the reader feel either dumb or takes them out of the story entirely because you can only suspend your disbelief so far.
there seems to be a theme in asimov books where people fall madly in love about 3 minutes after meeting each other and im shocked that it keeps happening in every single book
anyway this was a short story so the pacing was nice i suppose. onto the next one
there seems to be a theme in asimov books where people fall madly in love about 3 minutes after meeting each other and im shocked that it keeps happening in every single book
anyway this was a short story so the pacing was nice i suppose. onto the next one